RockRaiders EP

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RockRaiders EP
Current cover
EP and soundtrack by
Temple Sound
Released23 August 2022 (2022-08-23)
Recorded1998
GenreElectronic
Length9:35
ProducerAlan Boorman
Temple Sound chronology
RockRaiders EP
(2022)
The Fractal Shoreline EP
(2022)

RockRaiders EP (originally titled RockRaiders Music) is the soundtrack to the 1999 real-time strategy video game LEGO Rock Raiders. The three-track extended play was released in 2022.

Background

Each of the three tracks Boonyer composed was inspired by and named after the three cavern types found in LEGO Rock Raiders: Rock, Ice, and Lava.[1]

Release

Although the three music tracks were included with the game as Compact Disc Digital Audio (or Red Book audio), the in-game audio is noticeably low-quality. The tracks appear to have been resampled to a quarter of their original sampling rate (from 44,100 Hz to 11,025 Hz) prior to being converted to CD audio (despite this process resampling them back to 44.1 kHz, saving no space).[2]

Nearly 23 years after the game's release, composer Marl Boonyer uploaded the high-quality original versions of the three tracks on Soundcloud on 22 August 2022.[3] The following day, the extended play soundtrack RockRaiders Music was released on Boonyer's Bandcamp page "Temple Sound".[4] It was originally priced at £4 GBP and used the PAL PlayStation LEGO Rock Raiders front cover as its album art.[4] By September 2022 the soundtrack had been renamed to RockRaiders EP and received a new album cover featuring a LEGO music box built by Peter Carmichael.[5][6] On 3 December 2022 the soundtrack's price was lowered to £3.[7][8] On 18 April 2023 the soundtrack was made free; Boonyer sent an email to all Temple Sound Bandcamp followers thanking them for their support "through a very tough period."[9] By August 2023, however, it had returned to being priced.[10]

Following RockRaiders EP, Boonyer has so far released two other works on Bandcamp: The Fractal Shorline EP, an eight-track extended play released on 28 August 2022,[11] and "infant narcotic", a single track released on 18 April 2023.[12]

Track listing

No. Title Length
1. "Rock"   3:03
2. "Ice"   3:26
3. "Lava"   3:05
Total length:
9:35

References

  1. Baraklava (23 August 2022). "Also good info: The tracks have names!". Reddit (comment on post "The original Rock Raiders composers just shared the uncompressed PC tracks!"). Archived from the original on 21 April 2024.
  2. Baraklava (23 August 2022). "No one is sure what happened to the CD tracks given these master tracks, but it was at least resampled to 1/4th the original frequency..." Reddit (comment on post "The original Rock Raiders composers just shared the uncompressed PC tracks!"). Archived from the original on 21 April 2024.
  3. Baraklava (22 August 2022). "The original Rock Raiders composers just shared the uncompressed PC tracks!". Reddit. Archived from the original on 23 August 2022.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Boonyer, Marl (23 August 2022). "RockRaiders Music by Temple Sound". Bandcamp. "Composed and produced in 1998 by Marl Boonyer & Alan Boorman". Archived from the original on 26 August 2022.
  5. Boonyer, Marl (23 August 2022). "RockRaiders EP by Temple Sound". Bandcamp. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022.
  6. Carmichael, Peter (April 4, 2020). "Lego Music Box". Flickr. Archived from the original on April 21, 2024.
  7. Boonyer, Marl (23 August 2022). "RockRaiders EP by Temple Sound". Bandcamp. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. The price has been lowered to £3 GBP from the previous archive in late November.
  8. Boonyer, Marl (2022-12-03). "Email from Temple Sound on Bandcamp". Hi, Just to say my mini album is available at little cost. I was going to offer it pay what you want but I don't know how to set it up. I just want to say thanks for your support. Screenshot from ProtonMail.
  9. Boonyer, Marl (2023-04-18). "Email from Temple Sound on Bandcamp". Hello everyone. Many thanks for your generosity. Helped me through a very tough period. All tracks are now free. marl Screenshot from ProtonMail.
  10. Boonyer, Marl (23 August 2022). "RockRaiders EP by Temple Sound. Bandcamp. Archived from the original on 22 August 2023. The price has been raised to £1.50 GBP from the previous archive in early June.
  11. Boonyer, Marl (28 August 2022). "The Fractal Shoreline EP by Temple Sound". Bandcamp. Archived from the original on 20 April 2024.
  12. Boonyer, Marl (18 April 2023). "infant narcotic by Temple Sound". Bandcamp. Archived from the original on 20 April 2024.

External links